--- Begin Message ---
Harrison and everybody- fear closes the space but we don't react to that, if we
can stand still despite the fear then the space opens up itself and the useful
and constructive part of it appears by itself.
Regards,
Funda
( happily facilitating ost meetings though can not yet earn money , hope to
share more later)
Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote:
Avner â As always it is wonderful to see you online! And no
question â fear can lead to fearful things. Case in point was the internment
of the Japanese Americans. Which would seem to challenge, if not negate, much
of Zbigniew Brzezinskiâs argument about the period of World War II. Fear
obviously can do some awful things, but I think the situation is perhaps a
little more complicated. Truth of the matter is that fear in the face of real
danger is actually quite useful. If nothing else it gets our attention.
However, if the fear becomes paralyzing it can, and does, lead to very
irrational and non-useful actions. Interning the Japanese was certainly such an
action. It is also true that the danger posed both by Germany and Japan to the
US and the rest of the world was definitely present.
The interesting thing is that the Japanese were interred while the Germans
were not. Frankly, I donât think you can explain that difference on the basis
of fear. Racism would be more to the point. Certainly not a quality to be
honored, and racism is obviously connected to fear (scapegoating and such) â
but having experienced World War II, albeit as a boy, and now living through
(hopefully the end) of the Imperial Reign of George, I really see a difference.
Then we were afraid, but we also had a president who reminded us that, âWe
have nothing to fear but fear itself.â Today we have a president (along with
a lot of other folks) who has consistently tried to heighten our sense of fear
for his own reasons.
And â I find myself going in a rather different direction. It is a given
that fear is present, and also that fear can have both useful and destructive
effects. My question is how do we understand our fear so that we get more of
the former and less of the latter? And to complicate it a bit more â How do
we understand our understanding of fear? I think our experience in Open Space
can be helpful here. Somehow, even though the danger is not eliminated, our
capacity for constructive action is enhanced. Why is this so? How do we do it
more and better?
I find myself wishing that the Aussie Psychologist might join our discussion.
It might be interesting to hear what folks from that discipline have to tell us
â about fear, about opening space to âreduceâ fear, about ????
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland 20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of avner
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 5:07 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Terrorized by terror -- Space closes
Harisson, the Rabbi you mentioned had moved a long way since then and he is
trying to initiate these days a spiritual alliance between the Judaism and the
Islam.
Not letting fear control our lives is a constant challenge in our lives in
Israel, especially when new opportunities are starting to emerge. The question
usually is about risks that one is willing to take for his values
For example, we are planning an initiative to convince the Israeli
authorities to let Muslims of all ages to pray on the Temple Mount - Haram a
Shariff, on tension Fridays (when only adults above 45 years old are alowed to
enter). On return we can only hope that the Muslims will to take full
responsibility of preventing riots and harming Jews who are praying in front of
the Wailing Wall. From our experiences, many riots of Muslims started there on
Fidays, including the last disasterous Intifada.
Just out of curiosity about the period the Americans felt very safe: During
World War 2, did you have any attempts to prevent the locking of the American
Japanese in detention camps?
What kind of challenge are the Iranians to all of us? What kind of actions
can we make that are fearless?
In 2 days we are celebrating Passover, celebrate the becoming free from all
slaveries - Fear is definitely one of them
Avner Haramati
Jerusalem
----- Original Message -----
From: Harrison Owen
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:29 AM
Subject: Re: Terrorized by terror -- Space closes
Something that Chris said caught my eye. âPhill Cass calls the "private
voice of possibility" which emerges into the public consciousness. Suddenly
we're not talking about the fearful aspects of a state run system of
colonization, but rather a community owned and support enterprise to put the
needs of children in the centre as seen by indigenous folks.â
I am not sure that I ended up where Chris was leading â but for me what
came through was the end of âthey.â One thing I have noticed in high fear
dominated situations is the omnipresence of âthey.â Seems like they did
everything â or didnât do what should have been done. But the net effect is
that the face of fear is âthey.â The only problem is that âtheyâ has no
face, which I suppose makes them even more fearful. And one of the gifts in
Open Space is âtheyâ simply disappears. It is all us. Sounds kind of flip
and quaint, but Iâve seen it happen so often. In Jerusalem one time we did an
Open Space (Tova and Avner did the honors) and we had Jews and Muslims. Not
just the polite, usual suspects at such gatherings -- folks on the extremes.
One of the Muslims (reputedly Hamas) offered a session â which attracted one
of the Rabbis, amongst others. I was more than a little curious how it all
might work out, and later I met the Rabbi â and he was
bubbling. He said, Iâve never really talked to a Muslim before, but they are
us! I think there might have been some problem with the Arabic, Hebrew, English
transition, but the thought was very clear.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland 20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Corrigan
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 4:04 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Terrorized by terror -- Space closes
This is a wise response Wendy, about Open Space not being safe space but
rather a space in which we can train with our fear. Many of us who are martial
artists will know the experience of bringing your fear to the dojang (in
Korean, the training gym, like the Japanese dojo) and practice it with partners
there so that you can encounter it and know it and then have it as a friend
when you face the fearful things of the world. Being hosted in Open Space is
for me very much like training in a dojang.
I'm drilling holes in the bathtub at the moment in a number of places, the most
significant of which for me right now is in a year long project which is moving
the decision making authority over child welfare from government to Aboriginal
communities on Vancouver Island,. We've been opening space on this one for
years and now we have an intense engagement strategy set up and underway which
involves convening and hosting meetings of all kinds around the Island which
has, as the premise, "children at the centre." This premise, this purpose, is
the hole in the bathtub that is drawing people into what my friend Phill Cass
calls the "private voice of possibility" which emerges into the public
consciousness. Suddenly we're not talking about the fearful aspects of a state
run system of colonization, but rather a community owned and support enterprise
to put the needs of children in the centre as seen by indigenous folks.
Hold fear with consciousness and practice.
Chris
On 3/30/07, Wendy Farmer-O'Neil <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Harrison,
Thank you so much for starting this thread. Chris, your analogy of the hole
in the bathtub is a very clear representation of what (little) we know about
creating change in complex systems. Right now fear seems to be the primary
attractor guiding the energy in the US systemâand has been for some time (as
you point out Pat). Attempts to go head to head with that power vortex tend to
reinforce it (as you suggest Harrison, the BIG EVENT may not be the way to
influence the most change). Watching for local patterns and opening space
around local issues where folks can reignite their passion and rediscover their
capacity to step into self-responsibility and exert local agency, does create
new vortices, new attractors that inevitably pull energy away from the fear.
I find that open space is not so much a place without fear, as an exceptional
place for folks to learn to feel the fear and act anywayâand learn that they
won't die if they do. That it's okay to let go into the fear, wander around a
bit, keep breathing, until you find your feet and move on to what's next. This
is an essential skill for thriving in chaotic and complex timesâand open
space is a good place to learn and practice it. Acting to create change or
social innovation in a system is going to feel risky. Most of us have been
trained and educated to create and preserve securityâso we will need to get
used to feeling fear and acting anywayâwith all of our wonderful flaws and
imperfections.
Whenever we give up basic rights, freedoms, and responsibilities for the
illusion of security, we end up selling off a large part of our souls and our
deepest humanity along with them. A new trajectory of joy is what I am busy
stumbling around to create. Attempting to act, not out of fear, or against
fear, but from a completely new and open space of joy and infinite possibility.
And yes, Harrison, I feel it as a responsibility. That's why I risked a lot
and went to Moscow to be there and support the opening of space in anyway that
I could. I was overcome standing in Red Square in front of Lenin's Mausoleum
and the reviewing stand where so many years before I had watched on TV Brezhnev
reviewing the May Day parade of weaponry. I could not stop the tears from
coming or from remembering how I felt in 1982 when I addressed an audience (at
a 'peace conference') filled with Reagan's cold war croniesâthat as a
16-year-old, after three days of listening to them, I was without hope. So to
find myself standing in that place of such cold war symbolism, and to be there
not as a tourist, but as a member of the open space communityâto have
actually been a part of an open space event in that placeâfelt like nothing
short of miraculousâand at the same time so fragile.
So what am I doing these days to open space in spite of the fearosphere? I
am working hard with Cheryl Honey to refine and spread the practice of
Community Weaving, which uses open space principles and takes it to the
grassroots, non-event, daily life stuffâto remediate poverty and isolation
and build resilient communities of care and belonging. I'm hosting an OS on my
little island on finding abundance doing what you love. I have started the
planning for an SOS (Sustainability Open Space) in the fall (I'll be calling
you soon Chris W.). I am talking to the local social planning council about
the possibility of opening space with the homeless. I've introduced the
United Way to OS and we are looking at how they might use it to grow their new
community development focus. Last year, we opened space here for a three day
land use planning eventâwe did it by donation and covered our costsâand
created a tremendous legacy for our community by establishing a community
commons that actually passed all the zoning and land use amendments the first
time through!!
So just a couple of examples of little ways that I'm trying to drill a few
holes in my local bathtub. What other ways are you all engaged in this? It
would be so inspiring to hear more about the ways we are all opening little
spaces for something new to emerge.
Lots of love,
Wendy
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